Environments

Lisoloo runs two environments — sandbox and production. They are configuration-distinct, not URL-prefixed: the same paths exist at every base URL.

Environment	BASE_URL source	Key prefix	Purpose
Sandbox	Sandbox URL on the Bloonio dev portal dashboard	sk_test_*	Self-serve test traffic. SMS are routed to a stub carrier; no real delivery, no real cost.
Production	Production URL on the Bloonio dev portal dashboard	sk_live_*	Live SMS. Real carriers. Real cost against your balance.

Where to find your BASE_URL

After logging into the Bloonio dashboard, open Lisoloo → Developer → API keys. Each environment block shows its base URL next to the key card. Copy that value verbatim into your BASE_URL environment variable; every example on this site assumes the URL is loaded that way.

We deliberately do not print the URLs in these docs — they can change per region or per deployment, and your dashboard always shows the correct value for your account.

Every Lisoloo endpoint is mounted under /api/v1/lisoloo/sms-api/. The unauthenticated /health probe is available in both environments.

Picking an environment

There is no global “environment” toggle — the choice of base URL and the key prefix together determine the environment. A sandbox key (sk_test_*) cannot authenticate against the production base URL, and vice versa — that returns 401.

# Wrong — sandbox key against production base URL
curl $BASE_URL/api/v1/lisoloo/sms-api/balance \
  -H "app-key: sk_test_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
# → 401 with "Missing or invalid app-key"

Per-environment configuration

Both environments are independent: separate API keys, separate webhook configuration, separate balance, separate rate-limit buckets. Rotating a sandbox key does not affect production, and vice versa.

# Sandbox  (paste the sandbox BASE_URL from your dashboard)
export BASE_URL=<sandbox-base-url-from-dashboard>
export LISOLOO_API_KEY=sk_test_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
export LISOLOO_API_URL=$BASE_URL/api/v1/lisoloo/sms-api

# Production  (paste the production BASE_URL from your dashboard)
export BASE_URL=<production-base-url-from-dashboard>
export LISOLOO_API_KEY=sk_live_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
export LISOLOO_API_URL=$BASE_URL/api/v1/lisoloo/sms-api

Sandbox quirks worth knowing

• No real delivery. Sandbox SMS are accepted and walked through the full status lifecycle (pending → processing → sent → delivered) but no carrier traffic is generated. The recipient does not receive anything.
• Test recipient numbers. Use any well-formed E.164 number — the sandbox doesn’t validate against a real number database. We recommend +243998857000 for documentation parity.
• Webhooks fire normally. Sandbox callback_url calls and webhook_url POSTs are real HTTP requests from the gateway. Use a service like webhook.site to inspect them.
• No real cost. total_cost on the response is computed but never deducted from your balance. The available_sms field on GET /balance reports the sandbox quota, not production credits.
• Rate limits are the same. Don’t tune your test harness on sandbox-specific limits — they match production.

Triple-check the base URL before sending real traffic

The sandbox accepts any E.164-formatted number including real ones. The carrier is stubbed, so passing your own real number in sandbox won’t make the message arrive — but in production the carrier will. Confirm which BASE_URL you’ve exported before running a real send.

See also

• Authentication — header format
• API keys — where the dashboard shows your BASE_URL
• Your first SMS — sandbox walkthrough